[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Robert B. Reich

[Editor’s note: This article discusses mandates in the context of the Democratic presidential race, but has direct relevance to the debate on AB X1 1 being considered by the California Senate Health Committee on Monday.]

Democrats should be celebrating. Their three major candidates have put health insurance front and center on the domestic agenda, and with plans that are remarkably similar. They've done so at a time when the public seems readier than ever before to embrace universal health insurance, and readier to trust a Democratic president to put it into effect.
But instead of celebrating, the candidates and left-leaning pundits are squabbling over whether the plans should include so-called mandates that require everyone to purchase health insurance. Talk about self-inflicted wounds. Mandates are a sideshow, and fighting over them risks turning away voters from the main event.

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

State Senator Sheila Kuehl, author of SB 840, the single payer health insurance bill dubbed "Medicare for All," joins Allen and Cynthia Campbell in front of the state Capitol in Sacramento.

By Frank D. Russo

An incredibly sad story of two human beings--a nurse, who despite 30 years of working and paying health insurance premiums is now uninsurable with a rare form of cancer--and her loving and supportive husband--was told both outside the state Capitol and inside to the Assembly Health Committee on Tuesday, as it debated, and eventually passed SB 840 by Senator Kuehl that would bring universal health insurance coverage to all Californians.

On the Capitol lawn, holding a sign that said, "Blue Shield, Blue Cross, Don't Kill My Wife," Allen Campbell stood next to his wife and supported her when she became weak. They spoke to passersby using a bullhorn. I was able to talk with them and to get to know them. They are both extraordinary individuals who at great peril have helped to save victims of genocide in Rwanda. They are also ordinary Californians who are experiencing a hellish nightmare with the current private health insurance system in our state.

Here is what they had to say to the Assembly Committee, speaking truth to power that brought tears to my eyes and many others.

Cynthia Campbell